Equality is about ‘creating a fairer society, where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential’. By eliminating prejudice and discrimination, the NHS can deliver services that are personal, fair and diverse and a society that is healthier and happier. For the NHS, this means making it more accountable to the patients it serves and tackling discrimination in the work place.
For example, occupational segregation. Women make up almost 75% of the NHS workforce but are concentrated in the lower-paid occupational areas: nursing, allied health professionals (AHPs), administrative workers and ancillary workers (DH, 2005). People from black and minority ethnic groups comprise 39.1% of hospital medical staff yet they comprise only 22.1% of all hospital medical consultants (DH, 2005).
In relation to patient care, research published in the British Medical Journal (2008) has shown that people aged 50 and over, but especially the old and frail, are not receiving basic standards of healthcare. Experts found shortfalls in the quality of care offered by the NHS and private providers to patients with conditions such as osteoarthritis, incontinence and osteoporosis.